KDevelop4/Manual/WindowsSetup

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Using KDevelop on Windows for C++ development

KDevelop does not ship a compiler, nor a build system. To actually compile C++ programs, you need a toolchain containing those. With KDevelop, you can use any compiler available for the Windows platform, be it Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler, or MinGW/GCC or even Clang on Windows. You just need to make sure your environment is set up correctly, so the build system in use (e.g. CMake) can find the compiler.

Prerequisites

Choose whether to install either GCC via MinGW or the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE. Both ship C/C++ compilers. Installing and using Visual Studio is the recommended & tested workflow at this point. The recommended build system is CMake.

Get KDevelop

If using VC++: Run KDevelop by clicking the KDevelop - Microsoft Visual C++ compiler shortcut in your start menu, which will set up the necessary environment.

If using MinGW: Run KDevelop by clicking the KDevelop shortcut, but make sure to pass -G "MinGW Makefiles" to CMake when KDevelop asks you for the build directory

Now, you can use KDevelop's "Build" and "Run" tools as usual. For example, you can create a "Hello World" program by selecting Project -> New from Template -> Standard; then simply click "Build" and "Execute".